When losing a bet you do it in style
by Swiss Storytime
Summary: So, i lost bet when playing cards against humanity... and i had to write @Abeciana a stroy about her favourite YouTuber... and well, heres the result. Cryaotic meets Abe, a sweet girl who thinks she knows everything about him, or does she?
1. Coffee shops are great places to meet

'Ha! I win! You owe me a story Swiss.'

'Mine was why funnier! Arrg fine you win. I'll write a story for you. God dang it Caricno!'

'Sorry bro, i laugh at dark humour lol.'

She sat in her normal spot in the coffee shop, sipping her hot chocotate with extra marhmallow and playing Cards against Humanity using the free Wi-Fi they offer in the café. It was a usual weekend for Abe. Well, at least it was for that moment.

She was shifting her jet black hair out of her brown hues as the man walked into the shop. He was a curious one, didn't draw too much attention even though the white mask over his face should have made him stand out. He was average build, average height, average pretty much everywhere, his mask with two drawn on eyes and an emotionless mouth. To the naked eye, he could be anyone, but Abe knew who he was in an instant.

"1 hot chocotate with extra marhmallow to go, please?" the bored shop clerk didn't even bother to look up from her phone as she poured the coffee into a to-go cup and handed it too. Him. If she had looked up she would have seen the masked face of the YouTube legend, but she had missed her chance, Abe wasn't going to do that, but she had to act cool.

She was surprised when he turned to face her first, her embarrassment making her smile and wave awkwardly. He just waved back a small laugh leaving his lips, or his mask, whatever. Her cheeks went red, her urge to fangirl in her seat strong but her willpower stronger for now. She called out to him, trying to keep the conversation away from the fangirl emotions. "Extra marshmallow? Quite a sweet tooth you have there." Her accent was British, but slightly Americanised.

"Oh." He seemed to be surprised by her talking to him. "Well, I only like sweet things as long as it's mixed with a bunch of caffeine I don't really notice too much." She laughed, his voice just as majestic as ever. The girl behind the counter gave him his coffee, still not looking up from her phone, and he was about to walk away, which made Abe's heart sag, but he stopped, approaching her with a half-nervous shuffle. "Is that seat taken?"

"No!" She said quickly and almost shouted. He stopped for a second, before she realised she hadn't made it clear, "I mean, no please take it." He seemed to be beaming, but his mask didn't show his emotion, so she had to go by body language. He gladly took the seat across from her, making her heart leap.

"I'm sorry, while we were conversing over how we both like our hot chocolate, I didn't catch your name?" he said, his voice carrying her into an almost trance, she had to shake her head slightly to clear away the clouds of dreams.

"I'm Abe." She said, smiling widely at the person she admired greatly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Abe." He said with a very positive tone which she melted for. "I'm…"

"You're Cryaotic." She said, unable to contain it anymore. "I love your videos I like watch them all the time!"

"Why, thank you." He said, she could feel his blush under his mask, which she guessed just became a habit to wear. She wasn't curious about what was under it, he was Cry with it on or off regardless. "I must say, it's not often I get recognised, and when I am, they usually freak out."

"Oh I'm freaking out inside."

He laughed. "But, you are one of the first to try and start a conversation without saying complex inaudible fusion of disjointed words." His words bought her into a trance again. The way he articulated each word perfectly, leaving her on the edge of her seat with each syllable. He snapped herself out of her trance and smiled.

"Well, you do have quite an approachable face, it looks like a very friendly face." She smiled, and he laughed scratching his mask like it was his own face. He sipped his coffee, somehow the drawn on mouth acting like a real on without opening.

"So when you say you watch them all the time-?" He stopped as Abe watched a handsome young man around Abe's age walked into the shop, his dirty blonde hair was made even fluffier from the wind. His eyes were brown with ringlets of green, and he chose a usual attire of chinos and a grey sleeved white jumper. He smiled at Abe as he walked in.

"Hi Abes." He called to her, walking over to the counter.

"Hey Ross." She waved back, smiling. She knew him from around, they had met in strange circumstances and bonded quickly.

"Friend of yours?" Cry asked her.

"Oh yeah, Ross is really nice. He's a great writer." She said. He cocked his head a little, the conversation died quickly for some reason, and Ross put his Frappuccino down on a neighbouring table and headed for the restrooms.

"Would you excuse me a moment?" Cry asked her. She nodded and he also left for the restroom. She was left alone, and when he was out of sight she pulled out her phone and tweeted her best friend, telling them she had met her senpai in a coffee shop and was freaking out.

After 5 or so minutes cry came back, he didn't sit back down but rather leant down next to Abe and whispered in her ear. "Hey, you wunna go grab a bite to eat? You look famished." She couldn't help but squeal a little in joy and nod, leaving her half-finished coffee on the table and leaving the shop. Thinking to herself as she did.

'Omg, am I about to have a date with Cry?!'

* * *

><p>The men's bathroom of the coffee shop had a sigh hanging on the door. "CLEANING IN PROGRESS." Which is any member of staff noticed would make them think it was strange, since the cleaner had only just left half an hour ago. What was inside was far from clean.<p>

The tapes had been left running, making the water cascade down the basin onto the floor. The water mixed with a red liquid, forming rivers of stained crimson, the source of which was a young man with matted blond hair and dull, dead jade ringed chocolate eyes.

A knife wound in his abdomen.

One hand was over the wound, the other covered in blood, a trail of which lead up the wall, to a mirror, where words had been painted in warning.

"PEWDIECRY."


	2. Getting Ready

"**The mystery of your own imagination can be far more enthralling than reality, truly."**

* * *

><p>She awoke from her sleep, rising from her bed with a loud yawn and an excellent stretch. It had been an eventful night, one she would remember for a long time. Not in that way, it was because of the amazing day she had with her new friend, Cry.<p>

After they left the coffee shop they had headed towards the beach, hoping to find a decent shop to have lunch, but they ended up getting side tracked a lot. First it was the walk down.

They were walking along the road that led to the beach, Abe trying to contain the scream that was tittering on the edge of coming out, but she held it in by talking to him, about anything he asked, which was a lot actually. He asked where she went to school, where she was from, when she first saw one of his videos, that was an awkward answer, "Cry Reads: The Family Portrait."

"I heard you voice and was like, okay I would happily dedicate myself to listening to you every day. All day. I often do don't judge." And he would just laugh, that amazing laugh.

She tried to press him as well, trying to get to know the info she had always been dying to know. His favourite food, where he went to school. He was evasive at best, but she found that this just made him ever more endearing, and it might ruin who he was.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked my real name yet." He said, his voice showing his obvious curiosity.

"Well, you're Cry." She said, and when he looked at her with blank eyes she laughed. "What I mean is, I know you as Cry. Cry is the guy I like, so why should I ruin it? Plus, I have a big mouth."

He laughed, that laugh she had heard hundreds of times through her headphones could not compare to the real thing. "I'm glad you like Cry, he likes you too." She couldn't help but let out a small squeal of surprised, and he shuffled awkwardly. "I mean, like he erm likes you like a friend. You're a pretty cool person so."

"Well, thank you." She said, walking away trying not to show any emotion and toy with him. It seemed to work, as he caught up with her, and began to press more questions.

She got out of bed, getting into her daily routine, changing out of her jim-jams and into her day clothes, with a bit of a twist today. She was dressing to make an impression, since today it was another day out with her new friend, and it was a WHOLE day. They had agreed this after lunch the day before.

They walked out of the fast food restaurant, Abe quite happy Cry had been fine with her ordering the BigMac even though it was very unladylike, but he just laughed and ordered one himself. She had several times during the meal chock on her food either from laughing to much or the shock that still resonated inside her, and at one point she had put the straw up her nose, much to his amusement.

"I don't understand why anyone in their wasn't rushing up to you and asking for your autograph!" Abe asked him, and he just waved it off.

"Pfft, I'm not that cool." He said modestly, then he noticed she had stopped walking and was pouting in his direction, faking a sad face.

"You are cool…" She said, turning away from him and faking weeps of sadness, which he responded to, the Cry way, which mean very melodramatically.

"Oh dearest maiden, fair not. Your cry's have altered my forethought, and I see clearly that I in fact am the cool, and those who does not wish to bask in my immense coolness with a piece of papyrus with a crudely drawn signature upon it."

Abe had stopped her fake cries the moment he had started speaking, his voice compelling her to run over to him and just hug him and jump up and down in glee. "God damn it you have found my weakness."

"It was quiet easy to find actually." She turned back around, gawping at his rudeness, to which he just stood their paralysed. "Uh Oh."

"Yeah uh oh." She said, unable to contain it anymore and running to him and hugging him. She had done well to hold it back for this long, and she was rewarded with a returning embrace. She smiled in his warm hug, which was strange from someone so thin, or was he thin, she wasn't really sure but she didn't care. He smelt of pumpkins which was odd, but it was a sort of warm scent, like you get carving a pumpkin on Halloween for pumpkin pie, and she inhaled deep breaths of the sweet scent.

The hug broke after what seemed like forever and yet not long enough. She was shaking a little from her racing heart but she contained it, and he just looked at her, a little bashful. "I've had a really nice day today. I'm very glad I walked into the coffee shop when I did."

"Me too." She said. "Is it weird I have to thank a Cards Against Humanity addiction for this?"

"I think there are worse addictions. Mainly gaming but I wouldn't know what that was like."

"Course you don't." She winked. She was sad to see him go, she would probably never see him again, see her hero, her idle, her senpa… She told herself not to finish that sentence.

"It's been really fun Abe." He said, waving at her and beginning to walk away from her. She felt tears start to well up for real this time.

"Bye bye!" She shouted, turning away before the tears could come streaming down her face. That was it, something that could only happen once in her lifetime, and it was over just like that. She was saddened by this, so much so she almost missed him calling back to her, she was surprised when she heard.

"Hey wait!" he called back to me as I walked away. I turned to him as he struck a confident pose. "You didn't even give me yo numba. What the fuck, girl? Whatchu doin'? Get back here. Gimme dem digits."

She burst into uncontrollable laughter and glee, quickly pulling out her phone, running over to him, and exchanging numbers. Maybe her once in a lifetime something wasn't quite over yet. He hugged her again, which almost made her scream at the top of her lungs with joy, and they finally parted ways, knowing that they would see each other again soon.

And that day was today. He had text her all of the night before, it was like silly text conversation between teenagers, hinted flirting (Mainly from her) and odd little emoji's at just the right time. She barely managed to sleep that night she was so happy, but she had forced herself, she wanted to be fully awake for her date with Cryaotic.

* * *

><p><strong>The day before.<strong>

Ross washed his face in the basin of the coffee shops restroom. He had been wanting to talk to Abe for ages, sort out the presentation they had been told to do together. He liked being paired with her, they were so similar, but when he walked in and saw that guy on the table with her, that stranger in the white mask, he felt something. Not jealousy, no way. It was something else, almost like worry.

He was splashing his face in order to figure out just what he was feeling, but as he lifted his face up to the mirror, behind him was one of the last things he would ever see.

A thing man, average in all ways, except for a white, emotionless mask over his face.

He turned and was about to defend himself, but when he did he felt it. A sharp, excruciating pain in his abdomen. He looked down, and the first thing his vision saw was the silver fork sticking out of his gut, then he saw the blood which dripped from the wound onto the tiled floor. He looked up to the mask, his own face now emotionless.

He fell to the floor, feeling no anger or sadness, only pain and weakness, futile, and powerless. The man just stood over him, dropping the fork to the ground as he began to laugh, his voice distorted and not quite clear.

"Ohh that felt good." He said. "Man, you know you had me worried, when you looked at her, I thought you were going to get her first, but I stopped that before that could happen. She'll love me for this. Course, that's my plan."

"You…" He said, his voice weak from the pain and the blood lose. The masked man crouched to the floor, staring Ross with his blank eyes. "You killed me."

"Twitter

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Tumblr

Yeah! I murdered you…" He said, his voice growing ever more distant. "With a fork! Good lord, I'm never gonna underestimate the power of utensils again. Anyway, ive got a date I need to go on." He put his hand to the mask, and lifted it off his face, but Ross's eyes had lost their focus, so all he saw was the mask coming off and a blurry face begin revealed, but it wasn't the face he needed to recognize, it was the voice. "And now, you not going to ruin that are ya Rossy boy." He walked to the door, waved at the dying boy and left him, left him to bleed to death.

Ross just lay there, lying in his own gore, his life slipping away with each second, but he was now angry. He knew, he knew something Abe needed to know, he had to tell her, somehow. He dragged his limp, dying body onto the basin, and with a bloody hand, began to write.


	3. A Walk in the Park

"**I'm gonna be wasting my time, and probably for nothing; I'm gonna do it anyway. Because I'm a fucking genius."**

She walked down the road towards the park where they were meeting. She held her hands across her fluttering stomach, the nerves getting to her like they always did, but she knew she would regret it for the rest of her life if she chickened out, so she took a deep breath and decided to meet him, meet the guy she had always wanted to out on a date with.

In all honesty, she had never even thought for a second she had one real chance at going on an actual date with Cry. He was the guy she got home every day and watched, or rather listened, and could forget about the world just by hearing that voice; that intense, passionate tone that made her mind stop being so crowed and jumbled.

She could see that park now, the thin vail of green popping out from the grey city. Her face spread into a smile, a true smile, one she hadn't shown in years, as she saw the white mask on the edge of the grass. He wore a grey shirt, jeans that were slightly ripped, and of course the mask. His posture wasn't as casual as his attire. His arms hung down straight and tight, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets. His left leg scrapped against the ground, his apprehension noticeable. She got close enough for him to see her, and when he did he stiffened a little bit, then he stood up straight, his cheeks rising in the only indication of a smile she could read.

She waved to him, and almost ran across the road to meet him. She wasn't sure whether to shake his hand or hug him, so she just stood, smiling widely and trying her best to remain cool.

"Wow." He said, looking at her. "You look good." She looked down at her long summer dress, flower patterned and orange, appropriate for the season of fall.

She giggled a little too high pitched and girl for here taste, but she really did appreciate him complimenting her. "Thank you." She said holding in her screams.

"Shall we be off then?" He said holding out his hand for her. Her instincts came out again, snatching it and locking her fingers between his. Her smile tired is hardest to burst free of her face from happiness, and she lost her perspective of where they were, who she was. All she could see was him and her, the way she felt so open to him, the way he would listen to her intently, and when she got so deep into the conversation she wouldn't look where see was going and he would have to pull her close to him, so close she could inhale the pumpkin aroma, so she wouldn't crash into anything.

But every once in a while, when she asked about him about his life he would freeze up, his hand would tighten and he would look away from her and quickly change the subject. She felt like confronting him, but she liked the mystery about him, it was alluring and attractive in a way. They walked down to the pond near the centre of the park. It was normally very popular with families taking their small children to feed the ducks, or lovey-dovey couples sitting on their regular benches to engage in their regular PDA that made Abe want to throw up, but perhaps today would be different.

"I usually hate the park." Abe said, and he looked at her somewhat surprised.

"Really? Then why did you agree to come out here with me?" He asked her curious.

She felt the blush spread from her cheeks to her ears. She knew exactly what the reason was to why she had agreed to meet him here, and it was for the exact same reasons why she hated the park in the first place. She didn't want to admit that today might be the day she had dreamt about the night before. "I thought maybe if I was with you, I might change my mind."

He stopped in the middle of the park, and pulled her back when she didn't notice. He pulled her into another hug, another warm, deep hug that made her insides melt. She hardly notice him grip her tightly, almost too tightly, and she felt her lungs run out of air and she had to force herself to break it least she suffocate. She just smiled as she took deep breathes, thinking he was just playing with her.

They continued through the park, and an odd silence came between them that Abe couldn't explain. It was an awkward kind of silence. It was an eerie one, one where the air became a chill and their hands became loose from each other. The strange thing about it was it was coming from him, a tone of hostility surrounding him. She couldn't explain it, he would turn to her and smile the same smile, but after that tight hug, it was… different.

"Hey Abe?" he finally said, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"How about tonight, I take you out, to dinner someplace?" he said, putting empathise on someplace.

"Someplace being?"

"Someplace being." He said, trailing off and looking to the ground shuffling on his feet again. "My place."

Abe froze. Her heart seemed to be going to slow or too fast, both way she couldn't tell, and she couldn't care less. Cry had just offered her to go to him place for dinner that was a huge step. "Okay!" A step that was rather easy to take.

"Great!" He said, grasping her shoulder and beaming. "So I'll pick you up at say 7?"

"Oh yeah that sounds perfect." She said, closing in for a hug at the same time as he did, and both leaned in the same direction.

Their face's were inches apart, her rose blush close to his white mask. She found herself tempted to lift the mask up, just a centimetre, and close her eyes and take the plunge into the dream. Her breathing was heavy, the temptation was strong. His name escaped her lips without her stopping it. "Cry?"

But she looked to the ground, smiling and letting the hug just be a hug, which she didn't mind really. It was a moment, a moment of purity. Or was it?

"I'll see you then." He broke the hug and walked down the path back to the city, leaving Abe standing there, exited yet confused. Something was wrong with that moment. When she had spoken his name, his reaction was not what she expected. He hadn't said her name, and she knew that mask was covering is emotions but, he didn't seem even the slightest it tempted as she was.

She shook her head. No, she was just seeing things. Cry was shy, he probably was just extremely timid at that moment, not sure what to do. But then, why did he seem such a strange under the mask?

* * *

><p>"Nurse how's the patient?<p>

"He still hasn't regained consciousness. His heart rate his normal, so is his fluids. His recovery is well underway."

"I didn't mean his physical health."

"He's... He speaks in his sleep. He calls out, repeating the cry over and over… 7 stitches, from a fork?"

"It is certainly strange. Nurse Hope, be sure to call me when he wakes up."

"Of course, and Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"The girl, have we found her?"

"The police are filtering the details. If this Abe is a friend of Mr Ross, she will know who this PewDieCry character is."


	4. Date Night

**Chapter 4 –**

"What's all this?"

"I'm preparing."

"Ha, ironic. You never thought any of this through, why start now?"

"Because, tonight is the night I show her."

"Ohhh, well woopty doo for you. You and I both know what her reaction will be."

"It doesn't matter how she reacts. I was never in it for her enjoyment or displeasure."

"That's right, you were in it to teach her. You're really fucking weird you know that."

"Shut up, you can be such a douche you know that."

"But you love me for it, don't you _Cry_."

"Yes, I do. And I am the only one who loves you, and the only one that will after tonight."

* * *

><p>The light rain pattered off her umbrella as she stood outside her apartment complex, he left and tightly gripping the handle of her shelter while the other was stuff into her pocket, looking for something she could kneed to keep her anxiousness at bay. She had only been standing there for, what, a minute or two? And already her palms were sweating and her legs twitched, not just from the cold dusk.<p>

It wasn't the normal "date anxiety." It wasn't butterflies in your stomach ready to fly away at the sight of his face. It was more of an eerie twist in her chest, a painful jolt of surprise every time a car would drive up close. Was this normal for someone who was about to have a first official date with her possible-soon-to-be-YouTube-boyfriend-and-her-long-time-idol? She shook the feelings of as sever nerves, and just in time too.

The cab pulled up and he stepped out to meet her, his mask on as usual, just the shade of white she loved, but the black suit and tie made her feel the butterflies she had been wanting. His hair was the same, and his face as blank as ever, and she smirked at the odd look that she couldn't help but enjoy.

"Well hello there madam." He bowed to her, holding the cab door open for her to enter. She curtsied in return, and with a surprising amount of elegance she had ever done in high-heels before, she took a seat in the taxi, quickly followed by Cry.

"You look… Amazing." He said, observing her long white dress with a sash of green around her midriff, an addition she had made to the dress to add her own personal touch. She had tied her long onyx hair into a plait, which had taken her a lot of time and effort and defiantly an excessive amount of swearing. She smiled, giggling slightly at his nervousness, making her feel a little bit easier.

"You don't look half bad yourself." The cabbie drove them down the empty city streets, being a weekday a lot of people weren't out, which was good as they reached their destination in almost no time at all. He opened the door for her again, and she looked up at the rising apartments above her. They building itself stretched higher up then hers did, and also didn't have the same stench of old underwear and ethanol, which was a good thing in her mind.

He guided her inside the posh lobby, a red carpet leading them to an out of place industrial lift, but she took it as a decorative choice. They got into the metal box and he reached over her to push the up button, and soon with a jolt they ascended the building. She kept her eyes on the many levels they past, some with metal door blocking the inside contents from view, while others revealed lush, studio apartments fit for someone like Cry.

She couldn't think of anything to say to him as the lift slowed to a sudden halt, and Cry pulled the grill away and gestured her first. She smiled and walked into the apartment, her eyes glancing in awe over the pictured stone walls and colourful furniture. By the window which looked out onto the flickering city lights in the darkness a candle sat on a clothes table, two sets of silverware and chairs sat opposite each other.

"Wow, Cry. This is amazing." She said. She was glad he had at least made some kind of effort to impress her, which he had. No one had made such an effort for her before, and she felt that true smile come out again, like it had when she first met him.

"I'm glad you like it." He said, brushing past her arm. She caught the pumpkin scent again, which melted away all of her apprehension and worry, and now she couldn't wait to start the date for real. She took the seat he offered her, and he took the seat across from her.

"So, what would you like to eat madam?" He said, pulling out a crudely made menu. Just a piece of paper that he had printed in Comic Sans font the choices of microwaved meals for two. She giggled, his humour was brilliant to her.

"Hmm, let's see. I think pasta looks good." She put on a strong posh accent. "But then again the salad is the healthy option."

"We don't have the salad miss." He said, a little embarrassed he hadn't thought of it.

"Pasta it is." She smiled, and he bowed extremely low, almost touching his toes, and moved into the kitchen. She heard him throw things about to make it seem like he was busy, talking to invisible waiting staff telling them they were bad at their job, and she just laughed.

"How many times have I told you not to interrupt me when we have customers?" He shouted. "Do you want the plan to be ruined?"

"You have a plan do you?" She shouted into the kitchen grinning. He peaked round the corner, his eyes shifty.

"What no, no plan." He went back to cooking and there laughter died within her. Something about how defensive he refused to reveal his plan sent a shiver up her arm, and she wasn't sure why. He had a habit of making her feel extremely happy at one moment, then even as far as afraid the next. What did that mean?

She shuffled on her chair, her mind drawing her to the kitchen, where faint scraping sounds could be heard. It was a curious sound, like metal on metal, sharp on blunt. It was a hypnotic noise, one that reverberated to her hears and as it faded pulled her up from her chair and drawing her closer to the open arch of the kitchen. The closer she got the more she could hear rambling, a conversation between a voice she recognised and a voice she didn't. Her hand grazed the edge of the wall, her head about to peer around the corner.

"Abe?"

Her head snapped up to see Cry standing there, looking at her through the mask with unreadable eyes. "Oh sorry I was just wondering-"

He cut her odd. "You shouldn't watch me cook." He said, his voice monotone, not up for debate. He quickly smiled. "I mean, don't want the surprise to be ruined now don't you?"

She smiled half-heartedly. "Yeah I guess, sorry." She turned on her heels and walked back to the chair. She felt his eyes on the back of her neck, burning slightly and sending yet more shivers up her body, but she sat down nonetheless. She hated how she was feeling, mainly for her confusion as to why she was feeling like she did.

She kept her eyes on the doorway the whole time she was sat down, staring into the area not looking for anything in particular, just waiting. She wasn't even sure for what but something. Something she missed…

She was so caught up in looking she wasn't hearing. Hearing nothing, no noise. The metallic singing gone. The noise was all that she heard, and now nothing. He didn't even hum, whistle, the northing things people did when they cook, or the gentle humming of an oven or fridge or…

And then the gong sounded.

* * *

><p>His eyes opened with a start, his breathing heavy and painful for some reason. He felt a need to breathe but he couldn't. At regular intervals his chest filled with a pressure. He didn't feel it at first, but as his eyes focused on the blue colouring of a tube that went out of focused by his mouth. Then the feeling of his obstructed airway came in only increasing his agitation. Ross felt like he was suffocating, his natural breathing reflex told him to breathe but something was stopping him. His eyes widened in distress, the machine he was hooked up to overbearing and frightening.<p>

His heart raced in his chest, and the monitor next to him beeped rapidly, so much so a siren like noise began to cry from it. He lay there, not wanting to move in case he rip his lungs open or something similar. His eyes moved however, scanning the white room filled with flowers and teddy bears with hearts on them with messages such as "Get well soon." And "You'll pull through." 'Through what?' He asked himself.

A woman in pink scrubs ran into the room, quickly followed by a man in a white doctor's robe. He quickly signalled to the nurse who wheeled over the machine. He took in uncomfortably small breaths. The doctor looked at him hard.

"Ross, I'm going to take this tube out of your throat." He explained slowly with a calming voice. "When I say, you blow out hard like you would a straw, okay?" The nurse passed something to the doctor who pushed it down the tube in his vision. It touched his windpipe, triggering a need to cough and gag in rejection, but what he got was a feeling of further uncomfortableness as he felt his throat become even drier. The nurse gave him a smile, but that did little to calm his nerves.

The doctor removed a plastic valve from the top, and Ross felt the forceful breathing stop and his lungs crave for air. "Ready?" Ross blow as hard as he could but had little air in his lungs to do it. The doctor pulled the tube. Ross felt his eyes water as he felt it side slowly out of his throat, and eventually giving way.

He felt the air rush into his lungs, clear, cold but comforting. He would have smiled if it wasn't for his painful coughing and retching. The nurse passed him some water, which he was about to gulp down but the nurse stopped him. "Slow sips only." He just nodded, doing as she says and letting the trickle of life heal the thirst in his throat.

The doctor took out a small light and held his head, flashing it in both eyes before nodding. "His senses are returning. Hello Ross."

Ross tried to sit up from the bed he was placed on but a pain in his stomach shot fire through his nerves, sending him back down along with the nurse's help. "Don't get up, you might rip your stitches." He gave her a look as if to say 'Stitches?'

"I'm Doctor Walter. The ER staff stopped the bleeding from a wound to your abdomen." Ross lay there, taking in the information as it came. "You were attacked."

And then it came to him, the memory. His reflection, and behind him a mask, white and blank. A silver trident, no, fork in his hand. Him turning, and the blinding pain as he fell to the floor, and then, the face, the smiling, laughing, nightmare of a face. And then he remembered.

"Abe…"


End file.
